Paul Wesley Is Putting a New Twist on ‘Star Trek’s Kirk in ‘Strange New Worlds’
Q&A
Where No One Has Gone Before
For exclusive news and updates, subscribe to our Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Newsletter:
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is back! One of the franchise’s best-received spin-offs returns with Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) in the captain’s seat for a second season that combines every genre in the Trek lexicon. It is definitely — happily — sticking with its original mandate to explore unknown worlds and civilizations, while continuing with the emotional core of the Trek universe. So as Pike would say as the new season blasts off, “Hit It!”
However, there’s another captain with a familiar name that will show this season: Kirk! But it’s not the Captain James Kirk we remember; that one is still a lieutenant in the SNW timeline. This is an alternate timeline Kirk, who has a different ship and gets pulled into the storyline of Christina Chong’s Enterprise security chief La’an Noonien-Singh. Paul Wesley, who played Lt. Kirk in one appearance on Season 1, will return in several episodes in the second season, and in this one, the alternate Kirk is not quite the same as the character we know and love.
It’s a good thing Wesley doesn’t mind being in the middle of a passionate fan debate. After eight seasons playing the first-third of the Stefan-Elena-Damon love triangle on The Vampire Diaries, he’ll now inspire lots of chatter in his reprise as young Lt. James T. Kirk in the prequel series. Below, Wesley teases his exciting return to Strange New Worlds on June 29.
William Shatner on the original series, Chris Pine in the reboot films and now you — how surreal did it feel when you first put on Kirk’s Starfleet Uniform?
Paul Wesley: It was daunting and incredibly exciting. When I went on set and saw the [commander’s] chair, I knew it belonged to Captain Pike and I was thankful I was playing Kirk before his prime, so I have time to grow into the role and then, frankly, put a new twist on it.
Were you a big fan of the Star Trek franchise? Do you remember the first Trek show or movie you watched?
It’s funny because I grew up watching TV in the’90s, and I didn’t watch Next Generation. I watched the original series in reruns. I never saw any Star Wars [movies], but I had seen Star Trek. There’s always this debate between people that love Star Wars and those who love Star Trek. I was always the Star Trek guy, and I was pretty proud of that.
You return in a stand-alone episode working alongside Christina Chong. Can you take us through what happens?
There’s been an incident in the past that La’an has been tasked to prevent, otherwise it will affect the future in a devastating way. She goes into a different timeline where she encounters another James T. Kirk.
Michael Gibson/Paramount+
How do this Kirk and the closed-off La’an, who’s burdened with a murderous family history, get along?
At first they’re like oil and water, but they’ll develop a connection in a beautiful arc.
Is it fair to compare this episode to the original Trek’s most famous hour, “The City on the Edge of Forever,” with Joan Collins?
It’s one of my favorite episodes! I brought that up immediately. In both stories if you change one thing, it can alter history, and if you don’t, you’ll have to sacrifice something. That’s their conundrum — choosing what’s best for humanity.
Strange New Worlds has been renewed for at least another year after this. Would you like to return as Kirk? The canonical Kirk, that is.
Yes! It’s been a huge highlight of my life.
What’s been the best part of joining this universe?
The camaraderie with some of the cast members and the writers. I adore Ethan Peck, who plays Spock. It’s funny — we have a Kirk-Spock relationship in real life. I don’t know if that’s intentional but when I ask him questions, he responds in the most logical fashion. I think he’s joking, but he’s actually not.
You have a very different kind of camaraderie with your Vampire Diaries TV sibling, Ian Somerhalder. How is your partner in the Brother’s Bond Bourbon business?
That was our COVID project, and we’re passionate about it. I see and talk to Ian more now than when we played brothers for eight years. Bourbon is all I drank when I was shooting Vampire down South. Here in California, it’s a lot of tequila, etc., but Georgia is a bourbon-centric state.
So things are good even though Nina Dobrev’s Elena ended up choosing Damon over your Stefan?
[Laughs] You know, I really do think that’s still an ongoing discussion [among fans]. But the case has been settled! And Nina is a good buddy of mine; I see her as often as I can.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 2 Premiere, Thursday, June 15, Paramount+
